Due to the limited availability of free seats, certain airlines, including American and United, have discouraged passengers from using their worker travel benefits to Europe.
To reduce crowding at the biggest airport in the nation, London Heathrow and other European airports have enacted passenger caps.
Staff members’ usage of buddy passes to London has been prohibited by American and United.
As long as it’s not their employees, airlines want people to travel to Europe this summer.
Carriers warn that it will be tough to find a seat home if employees use their company benefits for travel to and from some of Europe’s busiest airports.
The actions were implemented at a time when airlines were seeking to take advantage of rising reservations after a Covid pandemic slump of more than two years and airport labour shortages and industry disruptions had made summer travel to Europe difficult.
American Airlines has prohibited employees from utilising their flight benefits for anything other than personal travel from Amsterdam through July 31 and from London Heathrow Airport through “at least” September 11. Buddy cards, which offer substantially discounted tickets for friends and family, are not permitted by United Airlines on travel through London Heathrow until at least the end of August.
According to a representative, United is also informing personnel about the difficulties associated with summertime international travel and asking them to put customers first.
Following the implementation of leaving passenger caps at Britain’s busiest airport in an effort to reduce congestion this summer, those decisions were made.
Airlines try to attract customers by offering free or significantly reduced tickets as they try to staff up for an increase in bookings. Carriers want as many seats as possible to be occupied by paying consumers. In contrast to a paying passenger’s confirmed space, using such employee travel benefits as a so-called nonrev or nonrevenue passenger implies flying standby.
Even while it might be difficult to score a free or discounted seat during busy times, this summer is proving particularly challenging for airline employees hoping to take a low-cost European holiday.
In a communication to personnel on August 5, American Airlines stated that “several European airports are experiencing overcrowding, major delays, and passenger caps, greatly reducing non-rev departure possibilities.”
Only “a handful” of passengers trying to utilise buddy passes recently for flights back to the United States were accommodated, according to the message, and others attempting to use the passes would probably be stranded in Europe for a long time.
After the busiest travel period of the summer, certain European airports may still see congestion. Amsterdam Schiphol announced earlier this month that it would restrict passenger departures through October.
According to the airport, “the goal of setting a limit is to safeguard the safety of patrons and staff and to develop a dependable procedure at the airport.”
Setting a cap has two goals: protecting customers and staff, and establishing a dependable system at the airport, according to a statement from the airport.
The problems are not exclusive to Europe. According to an employee memo seen by CNBC, JetBlue Airways halted standby pass travel between New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Guayaquil’s Jose Joaquin De Olmedo Airport owing to “high flight and bag loads” into the Ecuadorian airport.
